A ROAD rage driver told a cycling ex-councillor “I’m going to run you over” in an almost-violent altercation.

Keen racing cyclist Adam Jones was cycling through Shoebury Garrison on Sunday when he was threatened by an irate motorist trying to pass him.

Mr Jones, 52, from Barling, said: “I was cycling through the Garrison to the High Street. A car approached me at some speed near the children’s play area. He drove up right behind my rear wheel.

“As you go towards the cricket pitch there are speed humps and motorist usually slows down but this car tried to pass me.

“There were parked cars. He tried to cut me up but had to break for a parked car. Then he shouted: ‘If you don’t get out of my way, I am going to run you over.’ He was right on my rear wheel and I started to peddle really quickly.”

The car turned off and parked up with Mr Jones intending to approach it to take a picture of the registration but when four men got out of the car, he feared for his own safety.

Mr Jones, a former Southend councillor, added: “I wasn’t going to encourage him any further as he was still issuing threats. I said: ‘If you feel that badly about the way I treated you let’s call the police.’

“He started spreading his legs and arms out and said: ‘Do you want to engage with me?’ I really didn’t fancy getting beaten up by four men.”

Mr Jones said the man was well dressed in a smart leather jacket and added: “He had flown into a rage because of a sense of entitlement. Just because he had a driving licence, he thought I should get out of his way. That attitude really winds me up.”

Mr Jones said several biking colleagues had similar tales to tell, particularly those trying to use roads along Southend seafront instead of using cycling lanes.

But Mr Jones said the lanes had never been properly sign posted and racing cyclists were a potential danger to those using slow cycle lanes.

He said: “Racers are able to ride quickly and training involves speed. There are no speed limits in the cycle lanes. I’m 10st but even if I was just going at 20mph there are going to broken limbs if I hit someone.

“We do use the cycle lanes when they aren’t busy but when they are, it is safer to use the road. Sometimes there is a lack of understanding but we’ve got to share our roads.”

Mr Jones took up cycling after giving up horse riding following a fall in which he broke his leg. However, a recent fall during an Italian cycle race also left him with painful injuries.

Undaunted, he is determined to raise awareness of how dangerous a lack of knowledge and patience by both motorists and cyclist needs to be tackled.

He said: “Anyone can walk into a bike shop, buy a bike and deem themselves a cyclist but they have to learn. There’s also a lack of policing.”

Bad driving behaviour needs to be unacceptable.”